Tänak had been on course for his first win of the season, but a power steering failure dropped the Estonian from the lead to third before the final day. On Super Sunday, he mounted one last attack: passing Kalle Rovanperä for second place and claiming maximum points from the day’s performance.
Tänak’s Sunday run was dazzling. He ended the rally with five consecutive stage wins. Even Sébastien Ogier, who won the event, was left trailing – Tänak was nearly half a minute faster than the Frenchman on Sunday alone.
“It was quite a nice Sunday drive, like we say,” Ogier marvelled at Tänak’s performance.
“I don’t know where he wanted to go – if it was church or somewhere else – but he was in a hurry, it looks like,” Ogier joked.
Ogier celebrated his seventh career victory in Portugal – helped in part by Tänak’s technical misfortune.
“He was really quick basically the whole rally,” Ogier admitted.
Toyota have now won all five rounds of the season so far. However, Ogier emphasised that the team shouldn’t become complacent – especially given Hyundai and Tänak’s performance in Portugal.
Looking ahead to the next round, Tänak’s pace could even be seen as slightly intimidating from Toyota’s perspective.
“It’s a little bit of a different tendency compared to what we’ve seen recently. On tarmac, we were pretty dominant as a team, but this weekend I think the tendency was the opposite. We were missing a bit of performance compared to Hyundai,” Ogier noted.
“That is a good reason to keep working, especially as the next one will be super difficult – our three drivers are leading the way and opening the road in Sardinia. That will considerably reduce our chances of success there. But we’ll keep fighting,” Ogier said.
Rally Sardinia takes place from 5–8 June.
